Bill Clinton was just in Limerick, Ireland’s Adare Manor. Arrived at Shannon Airport early Saturday, 12:45 a.m. Private jet plus entourage, 10 pieces of luggage and his own black golf bag. Extra security of 10 swept the area. Secret Service earlier scanned the hotel, installing six floodlights at the entrance to secure protection. Bill went straight to room 301, his second time in this historical Irish property built in 1720.
Ordering room service, the ex-prez stuck to his diet. Intercepting the waiters, security delivered his veggie sandwiches personally.
Rumors swirl he’ll replace retiring ambassador Dan Rooney, 80, who’s returning to Pittsburgh next year. This is Clinton’s third 2012 visit — October, June, now November. When made a Freeman of Limerick, he received the honor personally, and they erected his statue at the golf course. He joked, “Because of my Irish heritage, if I bought a house here I could run for president of Ireland.”
IT’S Christmas. Fortuna Auction doing $1 mil in diamonds at Helen Yarmak’s . . . Fashion 4 Development doing holiday accessories on VogueVert.com . . . Billy Morrissey’s Merchant Solutions Group helping businesses rebuild after Sandy.
And it’s always holiday time when you see — as I did — Jon Bon Jovi shopping East Hampton’s main street.
SAVE the dates: Dec. 15, Champagne reception for something called “Awakened” with someone unseen lately, Sally Kirkland . . . Dec. 4, it’s Matt Damon in “Promised Land,” where they say he “grapples with” a small town . . . One who already saved a last week date was Jake Gyllenhaal in beard, hat and hoodie. At the Highline Ballroom, applauding K’Naan.
MORE. Carla Giugino spearheading Dec. 3’s African Children’s Choir at City Winery. So don’t whine that I don’t tell you these things . . . Dec. 21, Cirque du Soleil’s holiday film opens to coincide with Bloomy’s windows . . . Dec. 12, designer Sandy Starkman wants civilization to know MoMA honors Spike Lee. A “Jazz Interlude” fund-raiser for Friends of Education . . . Dec. 14, Alan Cumming opens in “Any Day Now,” which They, whoever They are, are hustling for an Oscar.
FOUR-star swordsman Petraeus wasn’t vetted before accepting this nation’s highest security post? Nobody checked out this general flashing rank and medals and decorations? Nobody inquired what he personally was doing? Who he was doing?
Top spook. Triple-A spy. America’s red-line protection from terrorists. Guardian of the United States’ safety. And our White House, our government, our G-Men, our FBI, our Cabinet, our Congress, our senators. Nobody vetted him? Questioned is Davey having any extra-marital affair? Anything present that might trigger a possible blackmail target?
When you play Musical Jobs, going from one operation to another, like from the Justice Dept. to the State Dept, you’re vetted. Because who knows what you might have done throughout your previous operation.
TWO well-knowns left us this week. Larry Hagman said: “At death, I want to be fed through a wood chipper. Spread over a wheat field and a cake baked from that crop for my friends to munch. Cremation takes energy, caskets do no good. I want to return to Earth as soon as possible.” This very year, Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, I reported that quote.
A lady we lost, I knew very, very well. I house-guested with Deborah Raffin. We phoned constantly. We traveled abroad together. In ’99, from LA, she and her husband, publisher Michael Viner, bought a 2-pound bundle of Yorkshire Terrier puppy from their breeder and, via hired limo, chauffeured him from Connecticut as a gift. I named him Jazzy. Can I ever forget Deborah Raffin? Never.
I’M telling you now. Early. Write it down. Sunday, Dec. 9, 2 p.m., rain or shine, I host my annual, free, open-seating, one-hour, ASPCA-sponsored, nonsectarian Blessing of the Animals. Christ Church, 60th and Park. Its Senior Minister Steven Baumann and Central Synagogue’s Senior Rabbi Peter Rubenstein officiate.
Commissioner Ray Kelly sends police dogs and horses. The street’s sectioned off. There’s a choir. Last year 500 jammed in with dogs, cats, birds, gerbils, turtles. Plus sheep, pigs, chickens and other assorted farm animals.
I’m there with my Yorkies, Jazzy and Juicy. Come. It’s holiday time. Get your furry and feathered friends blessed for the new year.
IN Sandy’s wake, a teeny baby hamster was marooned in a waterside high-rise. For days. A Good Samaritan, holding a flashlight, trudged up 36 flights — no lights, no air, no power — bearing water and food. Frightened, alone, thirsty, starving in the stark blackness, ChopChop, this tiny living thing, bit the loving stranger, Post TV critic Linda Stasi.
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.